english.prescrire.org > Spotlight > Archives : 2019 > Independence and transparency: the words Prescrire lives by

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Independence and transparency: the words Prescrire lives by

The independent French medical journal Prescrire is 100% financed by its subscribers, guaranteeing freedom from the influence of the special interests – be they industrial or institutional – that are omnipresent in the healthcare arena.

Association Mieux Prescrire (AMP), a non-profit organisation governed by the French law of 1 July 1901, produces all of Prescrire's programmes and publications, including the medical journal La Revue Prescrire and its English-language edition Prescrire International.

Article 1 of the AMP bylaws defines the association's mission: "To work, in all independence, in favour of quality healthcare, first and foremost in the interest of patients".

The AMP's annual financial statement has been published every year since 1992 in the March issue of La Revue Prescrire and in the June issue of Prescrire International, with the latest financial report freely available online.

Each year, Prescrire's editorial team, most of them doctors and pharmacists, and Prescrire's management team all sign the "Non merci..." Charter and a declaration of absence of conflicts of interest, in particular with pharmaceutical and other healthcare products companies.

Prescrire's editorial methods are explicitly outlined in the "About Prescrire" section of our website. The masthead, listing the names of the dozens of people involved in producing the various texts, is published on page 2 of every issue and is available via the online table of contents.

For every text of substantial length, the literature search strategy (often covering dozens of references included in the article) is described in detail. The underlying source materials are provided upon request.

All these different types of transparency, which are the exception rather than the rule in publishing in general – and especially amongst medical and pharmaceutical publications – demonstrate the Prescrire team's commitment to the reliability and the credibility of everything it publishes.

Ever since its first issue back in 1981, Prescrire has been produced by health professionals who are particularly vigilant about safeguarding the independence of training and continuing education, a team dedicated to shielding practitioners from the competing interests which wield undue influence in the medical and pharmaceutical arena.

©Prescrire 1 June 2019

"The finances of Association Mieux Prescrire: 2018 annual report" Prescrire Int 2019; 28 (205): 166-167. (Pdf, free).

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Download the annual report.
Pdf, free

Wholly self-financed
through subscriptions,
Prescrire makes its accounts
public every year
(June 2019)
Free

A non-profit continuing
education organisation
(June 2019)
Free

"Non merci": Prescrire =
no conflicts of interest
(January 2019)
Free